Meet Darnell McKenzie

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Darnell McKenzie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Darnell below.

Darnell, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
That is a very interesting question because I am not sure if I have ever overcome that. I have been told many times that I am extremely too hard on myself and need to take a step back and see what I have accomplished. It is usually people around me reminding me of where I am and that I do deserve everything that is falling in place for me, that I am where I need to be, and that I am going to gain more than what is in front of me. Even though it is said many times not to compare yourself to others, I like to measure myself up to those who are in the position that are where I want to be. At times, it baffles me when I reach out to some, and they actually advise me that they admire my work. In my line of work, I want to be able to take what’s in my head, my vision and display it to the world, but I also want to make sure I am putting it out there in high quality. Most of the time I do not feel I am accomplishing that till others start to break down what they admire about my work. I know that is a lot, I hope I answer the question.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
It is often hard for me to explain what I do, I do not want to say I am a jack of all trades because I feel like everything sort of filters into the same pot for me. One of the main things with me is, I am a creative that uses the camera to help the world see what inside my head. Whether it is me writing my own script, directing and filming what is on the page, or a client explaining to me their vision and I put my creative twist to it.

This year, my team has filmed 3 out of the 5 short films I have written, which will later evolve into a web series. The short films are actually origin stories for the web series. We have submitted one short to a festival, and it did not make the final cut, so I re edited and got a talented musician to help me piece together an original score to it, Ms Mattie Rainey, she goes by the artist name Mattie J and is the band director of Myrrh Gold in Raleigh NC.

It was a different experience watching my film and sitting down with her to see the process of her creating music and adapting it to what was on the screen. Working with her in the process was very refreshing and new. It felt like another level to this film industry. We are going to try to submit the pieces to some more festivals and see if they make the final cut or not.

I also have to thank the team I developed this year as well. What started out as just me and my brother, Devon McKenzie, expanded to two other people who saw my vision, Kyle Martin and Alexis Nade Hardy. Alexis actually wrote the script to one of the shorts we filmed and directed it. That was the first time I allowed someone else to take on that role while I sat back and just filmed. The way those two came into my life helped me see that God does put you on a journey and places certain obstacles in your life to prepare you for future things.

Other things we have accomplish this year is filming events for clients, commercials, and conducting interviews.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
This is another hard question to unpack. I can say that I am still trying to sharpen my skills more, but there have been many things that I have encounter that have taught me lessons I did not know I needed. For example, I started attending a church in 2021, I knew I wanted God to lead me to a ministry where I could serve. Even though I knew I had my gifts with the camera and everything, I did not necessarily want to be part of the production team because I wanted to expand to tap into a hidden, unknown gift within me. Around the time, I was thinking, maybe in person ministry isn’t for me, the same week the head of the church production team texted me to advise me their team needed help, and she heard that I was familiar with camera work. I realize God was speaking to me, especially when I just told him I was going to worship from home.

Through that experience, I observed how to work with a team and allow others to function in their assigned role, to help the productions flow smoothly. When I say God places you in current roles to help with future expectations, this is how I was able to start building my team for my business and allowing others to function in their role while I took a step back and just delegated responsibility. I am not sure if I would have ever learned to do that if I did not take a chance to work with the production team at the church. One of my cousins used to call me the one-man dynasty, because I was always trying to do everything myself. Like I said, God works in mysterious ways.

The biggest advice I would give others is to step back and analyze the whole picture. When you are just all in the canvas and doing everything yourself, you miss what really missing in the picture. That where I was failing before and just burning myself out for no reason. It took God bringing me into his house in the weirdest way, I still question the way he brought me to that church till this day, to truly help me expand my mind.

I realize I said a lot, I hope I answer your question.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
As I mentioned before, God has played an extreme role in me overcoming challenges. Everything happens for a reason, and he places you in certain situations in your life to prepare you for greater. I may not be top-notch in my field, but those who have seen first hand what I have been going through, see the growth, the break downs, and the light bulb moments.

He may not be here physically going through the motions with me, but there have been plenty of times I just step back and realize, oh that why that happened, that why he had me go through it that way. Do not get me wrong, in the process, things are frustrating when you do not realize what really happening, you start questioning if things are meant for you, but just when you are about to throw in the towel, he reveals something to push you and help you understand his reasoning.

We all got to realize we are his vessel, he moves through us to show his work. That why my films shine a light on him in some form or fashion. Everything flows right back to him when it comes to me.

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Image Credits
Visual Dynasty Productions, LLC

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